Ashraf Salama

Dr. Ashraf
M. Salama is full professor of architecture and Chair of the Department of
Architecture, University of Strathclyde Glasgow, United Kingdom. He was the
founding Chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Qatar
University, Doha, Qatar and was a Reader in Architecture at Queen’s University
Belfast. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy-FHEA and the
Royal Society of the Arts-FRSA. He holds B.Arch, M.Arch, and Ph.D. from the Al
Azhar University in Egypt and North Carolina State University, USA (1987, 1991,
1996). He has held permanent, tenured, and visiting positions in Egypt, Italy,
and Saudi Arabia. With varied experience in academic research, teaching, design
and research based consultancy, Professor Salama bridges theory and design and
pedagogy and practice in his professional activities. He was the Director of
Consulting at Adams Group Architects in Charlotte, North Carolina (2001-2004).

Professor
Salama has written over 140 articles and papers in the international refereed
press; authored and co-edited nine books: New Trends in Architectural
Education: Designing the Design Studio (North Carolina, USA), Human
Factors in Environmental Design (Cairo, Egypt), “Architectural Education
Today: Cross-Cultural Perspectives” (Lausanne, Switzerland), Architecture
as Language of Peace (Napoli-Roma, Italy), Design Studio Pedagogy:
Horizons for the Future (Gateshead, United Kingdom), and Transformative
Pedagogy in Architecture and Urbanism (Solingen, Germany). His latest
books include: Demystifying Doha: On Architecture and Urbanism in an
Emerging City (Ashgate 2013), Architecture Beyond Criticism: Expert
Judgment and Performance Evaluation (Routledge 2014), and Spatial
Design Education: New Directions for Pedagogy in Architecture and Beyond
(Ashgate 2015). Professor Salama is the chief editor of the International Journal of Architectural Research (featured on Archnet), associate editor of
Open House International-OHI, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous
internationally refereed journals and on the scientific and review boards of
several international organizations.

This paper argues for introducing a theory for knowledge integration in architectural designeducation. A contextual analysis of the reasons for developing a theory is introduced and reasons are categorized. The milieu of the theory is constituted in several contextual elements. The theory encompasses a number of underlying theories and concepts derived from other fields that differ dramatically from architecture. It consists of three major components: the disciplinary component; the cognitive-philosophical component; and the inquiry-epistemic component. Each of these componentsencompasses other smaller components integral to the building of the theory itself. Notably, the three components address ways in which knowledge can be integrated, how the desired integration wouldmeet the capacity of the human mind, how such integration relates to the nature of knowledge and how knowledge about it is acquired, conveyed, and assimilated. Possible mechanisms for knowledge acquisition are an indispensable component of the theory, whose aim is to foster the development of responsive knowledge critical to the successful creation of built environments.